TCM
TiVo ALERT
For
January
15–January 22
DAVID’S
BEST BETS:
ELMER
GANTRY (January 21, 10:00 pm): Burt
Lancaster is among a handful actors are larger than life when
they are on the screen. His intensity and versatility made him a
screen legend. His portrayal of Elmer Gantry in the 1960 film of the
same name is his finest performance in a career of fine
performances. In this film, Lancaster is a con man who realizes
that he's found a place in a Christian tent revival show featuring
Sister Sharon Falconer (Jean Simmons). Gantry, and those watching
this movie, aren't sure how he fits in. Is he still a con man, a
born-again or someone in between? Not only does Lancaster do a great
job working with Simmons, he does the same with
Shirley Jones, who plays his former lover who is now a prostitute,
and Arthur Kennedy, who plays a skeptical newspaper reporter who
garners attention because of his criticism of Gantry. The film
is intense, well-acted, intelligent and has a great screenplay
based on a small portion of a Sinclair Lewis book of the same name.
SCARLET
STREET (January 22, 10:45 am): Director Fritz Lang
does a wonderful job with this 1945 film noir that has Edward G.
Robinson give a brilliant performance in a role that's different from
any other he had in his career. Eddie G. is Chris Cross, a bland,
boring clothing company cashier who's never done anything interesting
in his life. Business picks up quickly after he saves Kitty March
(Joan Bennett), a beautiful femme fatale, being accosted on the
street by a guy who turns out to be Johnny (Dan Duryea), her low-life
boyfriend. Completely out of character for Chris, he dispatches
Johnny with his umbrella and quickly falls in love with Kitty as he's
in a loveless marriage with a wife who constantly hen-pecks him.
Because he talks of painting, Kitty and more importantly Johnny
thinks he's a rich painter. The two work out a plan to make money
from Chris' love for Kitty and his ability as a painter. The story,
based on the French novel La Chienne (The Bitch), has a
number of unforeseen (and excellent) plot twists as Chris' life goes
from humdrum to one filled with way too much passion, deceit and
tragedy. It's one of Eddie G.'s best and most unique roles.
ED’S
BEST BETS:
THESE
ARE THE DAMNED (January 17, 3:45 am): Runaway
radioactivity gave us giant bugs and prehistoric monsters in the
‘50s. Now, in 1962, director Joseph Losey brings the chills much
closer to home with this chilling piece of science fiction. The film
begins with an American tourist (Macdonald Carey), disenchanted with
modern life, being mugged by a group of Teddy Boys led by the young
Oliver Reed. After he recovers he meets bohemian sculptor Freya
(Viveca Lindfors), the mistress of Bernard (Alexander Knox), a stuffy
bureaucrat in charge of a top-secret project whereby a race of
radioactive children is being bred for survival in a post-nuclear
world. This film seemingly has everything: juvenile delinquency and
atomic angst, two of the most popular film subjects in B-dom. But
this is much more than a run-of-the-mill SciFi/JD flick. It’s the
reigning anarchy of youth in the streets versus the cold bureaucracy
represented by the concrete and steel warrens of the secret project.
Either way, we’re done for, Mate, unless we wake up. Also, check
out the fantastic score by James Bernard, whose Black Leather
Rock will have you singing it long after the film ends.
A
FACE IN THE CROWD (January 18, 2:00 pm): Budd
Schulberg wrote and Elia Kazan directed this prescient look at
celebrity and media-made pundits in the story of Larry “Lonesome”
Rhodes (Andy Griffith), a drifter discovered in jail by the hostess
(Patricia Neal) of a morning radio show in Pickett, Arkansas. Through
the sheer force of his “down home” personality, he eventually
makes his way to New York, where he becomes not only an entertainment
superstar, but a respected wielder of opinion; powerful enough to
make a nondescript senator into a formidable presidential candidate.
Rhodes, however, is rotten to the core, and as his fame and power
increase, the monster within him begins to break out. It’s up to
Neal, as a latter-day Frankenstein, to destroy the monster she
created before he destroys us, and she does it in a quite unique way.
Neal, of course, is her usual superb self, and Griffith gave the best
performance of his career, playing against type and should have
gotten the Oscar. But he wasn’t even nominated due to the less than
stellar box office of the movie and the liberal backlash against
director Kazan for supposedly “naming names” before Congress. (In
reality he didn’t name anyone that wasn’t already named again and
again.) What eventually brought critics around to giving this film
another look was Francois Truffaut, who championed the film as a
modern-day classic and a warning.
WE
DISAGREE ON . . . LILIES
OF THE FIELD (January
20, 4:15 pm)
ED:
A+. There
are few films I have watched over the years that I would describe as
flawless. Not perfect, best, nor greatest, but flawless: a movie
simple and to the point. Everything comes together nicely; there is
no extraneous dialogue, no lone meandering camera shots, and no plot
points that suddenly disappear. Lilies
of the Field is
like the desert where it’s set: lean, sparse, nothing wasted.
Sidney Poitier gives what in my mind his best performance as Homer,
the handyman who comes looking for water for his car, lands a day’s
work, and ends up building their chapel. In a film such as this it’s
hard to stay on course without falling into wells of sentimentality,
overly emotive preaching, or anything else that rakes us away from
the plot. Director Ralph Nelson has a real feeling for the material
and it shows in the performances, the tight camerawork and the almost
perfect pacing. This is one of the films I recommend to anyone
interested in 1) Sidney Poitier, 2) well-written dramas, 3) films
with a religious theme, or 4) just films in general. It’s one that,
if you haven’t yet seen it, you can’t afford to miss.
DAVID:
B. For Ed to give a film such praise, it's got to be
exceptional. He's been my cinema mentor for years and has excellent
taste, loving so many genres of film. There is no doubt this is a
good film and one I enjoy, but I don't consider it a classic much
less one I would consider flawless. Of course movies are subjective
and one person may love a particular film while someone else hates
it. Lilies of the Field falls more into one person
absolutely can find no wrong with it and the other thinks it's pretty
good. What I like about it: Sidney Poitier was an exceptional actor
and this is one of his many fine performances; it's 94 minutes long
so it doesn't drag; and it's a nice feel-good film that shows a black
man and a group of white Eastern European nuns working together with
largely Hispanic townsfolk. They treat each other with respect and
becoming friends during the Civil Rights era (the movie came out in
1963). So why a B? It's corny, way too sentimental and most of the
other actors in the film seem to be nothing more than scenery.
Without Poitier, this would likely be a C movie. The storyline isn't
terribly sophisticated or compelling and is predictable. That race
hardly plays a factor is both good and bad. It's nice that the film
doesn't dwell on it and treats everyone essentially the same, but
it's also rather unrealistic. It's a nice, uplifting movie with a
happy ending you can see as soon as we learn the nuns want to build a
chapel. There's nothing wrong with that, but there's also nothing
extraordinary about it.
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